Just because a few doors are closed, doesn’t mean one won’t open later. (image source: http://cdn.h3sean.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Closed-doors1-300×197.jpg)

Ever stop to think about who you are? What makes you tick and tock? How about what you truly enjoy and what you’re good at vs. not good at? Or what/ who has shaped you into the person you are today?

I’m at this stage of figuring out whether to continue independent consulting while iterating on ideas for the next startup or take on some full-time employment (consulting, product management, or otherwise). My recent post about my daily/ weekly schedule was an interesting exercise in stepping back and recognizing what I’m actually doing in a day, and made me really think at the macro level.

I remember that day in high school so vividly… it sucked, for a lack of a better word. I was crushed. Soccer was my life. Sure, I apparently wasn’t so great at it, but I loved it. I played every day. I had aspirations to be a pro one day. It’s true what they say, “you learn more from failure than success”.

As I think back to that moment and my life since, I can distinctly see how it’s shaped me.

Consistency – it’s what separates the good from the great.

Actually, the Varsity coach told me this was a major reason for my exclusion. I played well, but I wasn’t consistently playing well with errant passes or poor positioning. When you watch the great players, they were consistent in their play. They were dependable center backs who you could rely on to make that last-ditch stop, if needed. I just wasn’t dependable.

In entrepreneurship for me, this plays out in my interactions with others, being on my toes ready to pitch at any moment, maintaining a cadence with customers, etc. I strive to maintain consistency in putting together high quality products and presenting myself to the highest level.

Details – it’s also what separates the good from the great.

One of the other aspects of the great players who made the Varsity team from the others was the subtle details in their play. I remember one of the center-mids on the team had such amazing field perception that he knew where everyone was on the field. He had some Spidey Senseof when an opposing player was coming up on his back. The best players weren’t just passing, but were passing with enough oomph and in a direction that would allow the receiver to move WITH the ball and away from an oncoming defender. This is kind of like the best quarterbacks in the NFL who lead their receivers with a throw, away from the onrushing corner.

From a professional standpoint, paying attention to details means checking for spelling mistakes. It’s ensuring logistics are nailed down for any meeting or get-together. At Body Boss, for example, details included doing reconnaissance work of a school and the strength program I was visiting. It meant ensuring all the marketing collateral was ready before a coach’s clinic.

Be Aggressive. B-E Aggressive.

(Thinking back to my high school days reminded me of this constant chant at football games. That’s funny, right? No? Okay…)

I remember my earlier years on the JV team when I played incredibly conservatively. I was naïve and hadn’t played at a high level like some of the others. I distinctly remember one player who had played in the highest echelons of youth soccer (beyond Classic 1 – some summit I didn’t know anything about). I had the ball running in one direction, and the player was defending me. Except, he just brushed me aside, and ran off with the ball. I just witnessed the football “swim move” but on a soccer pitch. I thought it was a foul, but it was perfectly legal. I was just weak.

Today, that mindset of being aggressive and strong pervades me. If I’m not, others who “want it more” will grab opportunities leaving me in dust. If you want the ball, if you want the sale, you need to “swim move” your @$$ in there. Don’t play conservative…

If you’re not confident, you’re not going anywhere.

Kinda like the above point, but aside from being aggressive, having a mindset of confidence goes a long, LOONNNGGG way. Be confident in your abilities. Be confident in who you are. Be confident in others.

I remember I always looked up to those guys who played in much, much higher levels than me. They carried themselves like they owned the pitch, and compared to me… they did. I looked up to them like I was a small fish, and when I thought like that, everyone else did, too.

I wanted to parse these two into different bullets, but they go together so darn well. Plus, it’s the most important point here.

At the end of the day (or in my case, my high school years), I didn’t make Varsity my Junior or Senior years. Boom. Didn’t make it. Enter college, though, I eventually made it to the Georgia Tech Club Team’s A team. I even captained a team one year. Since then, I’ve played on teams that have won leagues and divisions from Atlanta Division Amateur Soccer League (ADASL) to Silverbacks and various tournaments. I’ve played with some amazing players from all over the country, and my best friends are from these years.

I loved soccer so much that even as I failed to make Varsity, I kept at it, and eventually, I was in with the soccer crowds I wanted to be a part of when I was younger. I failed to make the teams prior, but then some really great things came about later because I learned from those earlier playing days, and I kept at it.

The take-aways…

It’s funny taking a step or two back to look at the grander picture. For me, I looked back at a terrible moment of my life, and found a lot of positives that came from it. I lost a couple battles in high school, but so far, I feel I’ve been winning the war.

Thinking about it perhaps more philosophically, the ­failure of not making Varsity doesn’t define me. It was the lessons from failure that defines me, or maybe just helps define me.

Take 10 minutes out of your day for yourself and think about this – what was a defining moment in your life? Why? How has it impacted you today?

http://www.daryllu.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/entrepreneurial-ninja_logo_sm.png00Daryl Luhttp://www.daryllu.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/entrepreneurial-ninja_logo_sm.pngDaryl Lu2015-02-25 15:57:002015-02-25 15:57:00My Life-Defining Moment Happened When I Failed to Make Varsity in High School

I’ve somehow managed to keep this going for four months (including today) researching finance concepts, and blogging about them. Wow, it’s been a great exercise learning and sharing.

I admit my recent blog posts haven’t gotten me THAT excited where I’m openly sharing, but when I started researching and writing this post, I felt that excitement again.

So, anyways… moving on for today’s post – PART 4! The following topics will be covered:

Convertible Note

Discount (as part of Convertible Note)

Cap (as part of Convertible Note)

Dividend

Pro-Rata Rights

Convertible Note.

A convertible note is kinda, sorta, like-a hybrid of debt and equity financing. Here, the company and the investor delays setting a valuation for the company till a time when the company may raise another round with a valuation. Convertibles are a popular vehicle for early stage startups as it’s hard to discern the value of an extremely young company with little to no earnings.

So instead, the capital at the beginning is treated like a loan upfront. When the company raises another (or official) round, then the outstanding convertible note is converted to equity as a ratio of the valuation. However, to sweeten the deal for the inherent risk of investing early on, there are a couple levers that impact the conversion of the convertible:

Discount – a percentage reduction the convertible note holders can convert to the principal loan amount relative to the purchase price of the next round. The discounts typically range from 0-35% with 20% being the most common. So if Series B round investors are paying $10 per share, the original investors who had a 20% discount on a principal amount of $100,000 can convert this loan amount at a per-share-price of $8 ($10 less 20%)… they’d get 12,500 shares at $8 each but valued at $10 per share.

Seed Round: You invest in a convertible note of…

Principal of $100,000 with a discount of 20% (convertible to Preferred Stock)

Series A: Awesome Venture Capital Firm invests…

$10 per share at a valuation of $10M (pre-money)

Your conversion price-per-share

$10 * (1 – (20%)) = $8 per share

Shares of stock

$100,000 / $8 = 12,500 shares of Preferred Stock

Book Value of stock (unrealized)

12,500 * $10 per share from round = $125,000 (25% unrealized return)

Series A investors would’ve gotten…

10,000 shares for $100,000 investment due to $10-per-share price

Cap – a maximum limit of the valuation that can be converted into equity at a later priced round. The investors will typically be priced at the lower of the cap or the valuation of the round. How this works…

Seed Round: You invest in a convertible note of…

Principal of $100,000 with a cap of $5M (convertible to Preferred Stock)

Series A: Awesome Venture Capital Firm invests…

$10 per share at a valuation of $10M (pre-money)

Your conversion price-per-share

$10 * ($5M / $10M) = $5 per share

Shares of stock

$100,000 / $5 = 20,000 shares of Preferred Stock

Book Value of stock (unrealized)

20,000 * $10 per share from round = $200,000 (100% unrealized return)

Series A investors would’ve gotten…

10,000 shares for $100,000 investment due to $10-per-share price

Dividend.

Dividends are disbursements of profits from a company to its shareholders. Dividends are post-tax, and typically abide by a dividends schedule. Though, companies can issues dividends at any time as “special dividends”.

On the opposite end of dividends, companies can also choose to reinvest its net profit into the business as retained earnings rather than issue dividends.

Dividends are more commonly issued as cash to its shareholders. Each dividend is fixed per share, but the total amount will vary depending on the percentage of the shareholder’s shareholding (ownership).

Pro-Rata Rights.

In PART 1, I talked about dilution – the outcome where ownership percentage may decrease when a company raises a round of capital at a higher valuation. Pro-rata rights enables investors from earlier investing rounds to maintain their shareholding percentage and avoid dilution by investing additional capital.

So if an investor invests $500,000 in Amazing Hair Gel Company with a post-money valuation of $2M, the investor has a 25% equity stake in the company ($500,000 / $2,000,000). If the company raises additional capital in a Series B with a post-money valuation of $40M, the investor has pro-rata rights to invest an additional $9.5M to maintain a 25% stake in the company (25% of $40M = $10M with an initial investment of $500,000 already).

Need Your Help Moving Forward!

All of this research has been making me so much more adept and savvy when reading posts about investments and valuations, and also much more knowledgeable talking to others about them. This has been a great exercise, but I think I can do better, but I need your help.

I’ve heard positive feedback so far, and I’m always looking for ways to explain things better. This stuff makes sense in my head as I’m writing it, but it’s largely been one-way communication. That is, I write and “teach” without the student-interaction that makes good teachers GREAT teacher. That is, in 1-to-1 teaching, the teacher (or presenter) and student (or audience) interact with thought-provoking questions. Heck, I oftentimes learn more through these interactions.

Short story – interactions help me learn and explain things even better. So if you have feedback, feel free to shoot me a message on Twitter (@TheDLu) or email so I can explain things better.

There’s an inherent and subtle level of creativity with coding as well as layers of analytics involved. With the Internet of Thingsand the explosion of Big Data and mobile, I wouldn’t be surprised if some level of programming is introduced as part of core classes in high school and colleges soon.

So I don’t get carried away with paragraph after paragraph of… stuff, I’m going to share a quick list of what I’ve learned from getting started on iOS and building out Dee Duper. As always, I’m being specific about my experience, but any of these take-aways can be ported to any other programming – macros in Excel, SQL for databases, Ruby on Rails for web apps, etc.

Hopefully, these will help you stop waiting and empowering yourself to learn and put yourself ahead of the curve.

Keep programming day in, day out to keep your skills sharp.

The hardest part of programming isn’t getting started. In fact, getting started is the second hardest. The award for Hardest goes to… programming consistently. Like I said before, I had programmed in the past, but programming, like most skills, is perishable knowledge. It’s important to keep the skills fresh with continued practice.

Be prepared to delete and adapt when adopting new technology.

I decided to plunge into Apple’s new language Swift vs. Objective-C because Swift will be the programming language Apple preaches going forward, and I liked its clean syntax. However, when I started, Swift wasn’t officially released… having spent many months/ years in development, I had to do a lot of code refactoring when Swift was actuallyreleased at Apple’s event in September (2014). I had a bunch of code that needed to be updated because functions and classes were already obsolete/ deprecated.

Big features may represent 90% of the tech, but the remaining 10% will take up 90% of your effort.

I actually got a TON done of the Dee Duper app in the first week surprisingly. However, it was all the fine-tuning and dealing with Constraints that had me incredibly frustrated and head buried in my hands at the desk.

This wasn’t so much of a big deal before when Apple had really just one size (iPhone 5s and earlier all had the same width), but once screen sizes change, you need to set limits and constraints right so your app doesn’t look ridiculous on the various screen width sizes. Then, you’ve gotta handle the exceptions of “well, what happens if a user selects this first before that?”

Note: Constraints are what dictate the size of images, labels, etc. to fit different sizes of screens.

Dealing with Apple’s Developer processes will infuriate everyone – account for this time if you want to launch by XYZ date.

Apple’s products are [usually] pretty great quality because the ecosystem is so tightly regulated. I never appreciated this so much till I started developing. I had to buy a MacBook to even program iOS in the first place. Then, there’s a ton of headache involved with just being ALLOWED to program. There are things like certification, provisioning profiles, etc. that you have to constantly share keys and authorize devices to even test, authorize people to be able to test your app, etc. It’s mind-numbing.

If someone makes this process easier (a few clicks maybe?!), he/ she can make a ton of money. The frustrations through these processes are MANY for newbies like me and even experienced pros, I’ve found.

If you want to launch on a particular day, you need to be wary of how long it may take for Apple to approve the app (or if it gets restricted).

Don’t forget that if you leverage other tech, you may also need to get approval from them, too, like Facebook.

When you’re down in the dumps of coding disarray, Google is your best friend.

I probably run a hundred searches a day for problems I have or for ways to build Dee Duper out better – probably because I’m that green. Some of the features I was trying to build have been attempted/ successfully implemented by other developers. So, there’s a high likelihood there are other developers who have had similar problems and solutions. Being able to Google these situations is great, but you have to get the search terms right or you get flooded with irrelevant content. Google will likely steer you to personal blogs and Stack Overflow posts to help. The development community is alive and strong. Though with new tech like Swift, the community is much, much smaller, and can be a bit more difficult to find help with.

Integrations to platforms can be stupidly easy.

Credit goes to the great startups today who have developed such great platforms that can be easily tapped into.

For Dee Duper, I leverage Facebook’s API (application programming interface) so users can sign up and log in easily. With it, too, I can show mutual connections/ friends. Facebook’s documentation is decent, and can really help get you started.

I also use Parse(acquired by Facebook in 2013) as my back-end – stores the data model, content, etc. so I don’t have to build one from scratch. It’s so simple to get started and running. Creating tables and running queries is a cinch. I also use Parse to send Push notifications. This is useful when Dee Duper users send messages to one another critical for buyer-seller interactions. Push notifications are great, too, for Saved Searches (like if you’re looking for a particular items with key search terms, you can save the search, and be alerted whenever someone posts a listing that matches your search).

These large platform integrations just makes building apps that much easier and faster.

It’s so easy to keep building, and going overboard, but you need to stay simple.

Plugging in my earbuds and sliding my hoodie over my head, it’s easy to just get cranking and keep going.

“Oh, that can be a cool feature to implement… hmm, I’ll do that!” And the next thing you know it, you’ve blown past your MVP (minimum viable product).

It’s easy to just keep going, and thus, spinning your wheels and delaying your launch. As much customer discovery as I’ve done, I need to get the product in people’s hands to test hypotheses like features, layouts, etc. If I keep building, I’ll never get this good insight.

I have a couple lists in my notebook and on my whiteboard at home with clear objectives of what the MVP is… everything else can come later after some testing and learning.

Building is easier than selling (in my view).

I like to sell. I like to work with people face-to-face to find how I can help them through my product/ service. However, building things like an app is way easier, I think. You can do it from anywhere pretty much and at any time. Except for some quirks, the computer and code is pretty unbiased towards you with not so many personality “differences”. Thus, it’s easy to get validation when things work or why things don’t work.

In sales or working with people, there’s so much more you’re not necessarily privy to because there’s a person on the other side with a mindset, an attitude, a life, etc. However, I still like the people interaction, so would rather hand over the technical reins when the timing is right.

It’s really easy to take your time or delay.

Dee Duper was approved for the Apple App Store on Monday, December 1, 2014. (First try – sweet!) However, it took me a while to publish it officially because I was scared about how it’d be perceived by others.

Fast forward to February 2015, and since its launch, I really haven’t marketed it at all. I think I was excited about Dee Duper as an idea and as a project to learn coding with. However, since then, I’ve developed a couple other apps. As a solo-preneur, I dictate what gets my attention and what doesn’t. My schedule is completely of my own choosing, and sadly, that could mean I focus on building so many different things without the focus of only one thing even after launching it recently.

I need to do some marketing, though, so that I can get feedback on the apps that I’ve built. At least this way, I can really work in the Lean Startup mindset of iterating and collecting feedback.

Late or no time at all? Make time by scheduling that which matters most (image source: http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/Alice-White-Rabbit_l.jpg)

I’m a huge creature of habit. I like schedules, and I also hate them. Like my DISC assessment (high in both influence and conscientious), I’m a bit paradoxical in that I value both structure and spontaneity. As an entrepreneur, I’ve learned to really embrace this bend-but-don’t break schedule.

However, I’ve always been a bit programmed in appreciating structure and bottlenecks. It’s probably what ultimately drove me to Industrial Engineering at Tech and a consultant after graduation. I always understood priorities and making time for those things that matter most.

In entrepreneurship, this can be a tough task — making time for things that matter while balancing the needs to create and execute. We hear all the time how it’s important to live and breathe the business. Work 20 hours a day; sleep for 4. Even though I don’t have a startup success under my belt, I have to believe that’s a load of crap. At least for me, I know to operate at my best, I need to do what works FOR ME. For me, that means making time for the things that matter.

Below is a quick snapshot of what a typical day looks like for me. This is largely “today” vs. when Body Boss was going when I would have dedicate more time for cold calls and school visits.

5:00 AM

Most days during the week, I’ll wake up about 5AM-5:15AM. I’ll get ready to work out with my pre-workout regimen. This includes reading any emails, reviewing the day’s agenda, reading blogs or Soccernet.com, and playing music on Spotify… and dancing. It’s my warm-up.

6:00 AM

6AM I head to LA Fitness. I pretty much get my workout going at 6:15AM. This will go for about 1-1.5 hours depending on how much warm-up I do.

7:00 AM

8:00 AM

Typically by 8AM, I’m back home, showered, and making a quick breakfast of a couple over-medium eggs, grits or cream of wheat, and protein shake.

While eating, I address quick emails (takes < 2 min to reply). Most of the time, I won’t answer any till later when I’m set up.

9:00 AM

I don’t have an official office, so I can be nomadic, but most days, by 9AM, I’m at the local Starbucks.

I’ll be set up, tall green tea in hand, and I’ll read a few industry or blog posts to start my day.

9:15-30AM, I’ll start addressing emails. I’m a big fan of

Inbox Zero. Heck, I’ve been doing that for a while before I knew there was a name for it. That is, I treat my inbox as a makeshift task manager, and work to clear it out depending on how I need to handle each email.

10:00 AM

By this time, if I have any consulting work, I’ll start that. Otherwise, I’m likely starting to code or wrapping up a blog post, if it’s Wednesday for my weekly publish.

I also like to have any pre-brief meetings during 10AM-11AM… if I have a bigger meeting later that day, and I have to collaborate with others.

11:00 AM

12:00 PM

1:00 PM

I might have already snacked on almonds or pistachios by this time. However, for lunch, I’ll have a peanut butter sandwich – the lean life. They’re not delicious by any stretch of the imagination, but they’re incredibly fast to make, clean to eat, and I can continue to work while taking bites. Pretty boring, but very effective.

1PM is also a great lunch time for it seems. By this time, I’ve had put in a good rhythm and accomplished several things.

2:00 PM

I’m continuing to work here with any continuation of earlier work. However, usually, I’m done with any consulting work, and now, I’m focused on programming, marketing, customer discovery, or whatever else. Since I don’t have an official “role” or “job”, I just do what’s needed.

During 2-4PM, I’ll also try to handle most of my meetings including meet-n-greets.

3:00 PM

4:00 PM

5:00 PM

6:00 PM

I typically leave Starbucks about 6-7PM depending on what I’m doing later that night. I’ll keep working from home, but if I’m meeting with friends, I try to make those at 8PM. Yoga at LA Fitness on Monday and Wednesday evenings at 8PM. Friday Night Futbol (pick-up soccer) at 6PM at Tech. We’ve kept FNF going for the better part of a decade with much of the original cast still playing.

Either way, I try to incorporate a more “social” fitness activity during the week so I can break up the monotony of working “alone” at Starbucks.

7:00 PM

8:00 PM

9:00 PM

By this time, I’m eating dinner. I usually have left-overs from having cooked a big batch of whatever on Sunday. I try to cook something new or incorporate a new ingredient every week. However, sometimes, I amaze myself with some delicious meal, so I end up cooking the same thing two weeks in a row.

After dinner, I try to close out any other emails before bed.

10:00 PM

Before actually falling asleep, I like to throw up something on Netflix. It has to be something funny or “mind-numbing”. I’ve always had trouble falling asleep and staying asleep as my mind races with ideas or questions and reflections.

When I watch mind-numbing TV, it allows my brain to shut off. I tried reading, but most of the time, it doesn’t turn my brain off. So I’ll watch a couple episodes of some show, and likely try to fall asleep to it in the background.

These days, I’m on “Friends”. I’ve churned through “How I Met Your Mother” and “Scrubs” over the last seven months.

11:00 PM

12:00 AM

1:00 AM

… even with the mind-numbing TV, I find myself getting up about 1-2AM, and staying up for another couple hours. I’ll be thinking about all these opportunities or reflecting on recent events. It’s crazy. I guess, sometimes, it’s just hard to shut off.

This is particularly annoying when I finally fall asleep about 4AM, and have to wake up in an hour to start my cycle again.

Other general thoughts on schedule…

I cook in bulk largely on Sunday evenings and keep everything in Tupperware to last throughout the week. I’m a fan of spontaneity and variety in food, but for the sake of efficiency, variety rolls week-to-week.

I like to stay very active as it’s my “safe haven” to get away, but I include some team-oriented sports to get in some social time, too. So I play soccer largely on Friday evenings, but may play on Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesdays as well. Weight training happens on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, and yoga classes on Monday and Wednesday evenings. And if I have energy, I’ll include either mountain biking or golf on Saturday.

I work just about everyday… the extent of how long is another question. I don’t work too much on either Saturday or Sunday to have an “off-day”. However, I like what I do, and I like that I’m continually learning. As such, the concept of “work-life balance” is foreign to me. Instead, I feel that work is part and parcel to my life, and I happily include the two together.

I try to see my family at least once every two weeks. I absolutely love my family. Especially with a young niece, I make it a point to see my family somewhat often even if it’s just for a quick meal.

I typically work 9AM-7PM – not a crazy number of hours, but I’m focused and keep my head mostly down. More times than I care to admit, I’ve forgotten to use the bathroom. I get in trouble when I get stuck in traffic.

I address emails three times daily… once in the morning, once around lunch, and once at the end of the day. At least, that’s what I do most of the time.

Most of my meetings are on Tuesdays or Thursdays. Friday mornings I may meet with people at Atlanta Tech Village. Keeps my schedule sane.

Surprisingly, some of the greatest benefits of a schedule is having flexibility and allowing focus. With a schedule, I’ve essentially set aside time to accomplish what needs to be done while all other time is largely fluid. Add to that, I don’t have to wonder when I’m going to do something or when I will finish what I need to do as my schedule takes the thought-process out of it.

What I’ve also noticed in my schedule as it’s evolved is this notion of the introvert me vs. the extrovert me. The solo-preneur vs. the collaborative entrepreneur. I’ve found myself putting a lot of emphasis on finding activities and times where I am not dependent on others. For example, when I work out, I may go with a friend. However, if he/ she doesn’t join me, I’m okay with that. Weights don’t care about my mood. They don’t care about if I’m there with a friend. Instead, it’s a purely ME-challenge. In the evenings, I’ll then try to double-up with the group activities like yoga. I’ll invite others to join; or in the case of FNF, it’s highly dependent on others. If others can’t make it, then I’ve still, at least, gotten SOME form of physical exercise in earlier.

Even with Starbucks, I’ve given myself the ability to be quiet and to myself when I wear a hoodie and plug in my earbuds, or I can opt to be more social and talk to the person next to me. Either way, I’ve given myself flexibility. When I’m at home, I don’t have that flexibility which inevitably drives me wild with “cabin fever”.

In gist, everyone’s schedule is different, but we all have the same number of hours in the day. We prioritize and make time for those things that matter most to us. For me, I’ve stuck to sometimes a very rigid schedule that actually allows me latitude to include other activities that I hadn’t included before… all because I’ve already set aside the time to do what I need to do.

http://www.daryllu.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/entrepreneurial-ninja_logo_sm.png00Daryl Luhttp://www.daryllu.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/entrepreneurial-ninja_logo_sm.pngDaryl Lu2015-02-04 13:25:002015-02-04 13:25:00Don't Have Time? No, You Have to Make Time